The 18th Asian Games will come to a close on Sunday, with India achieving its best ever tally of 69 medals and equaling its best gold medal haul of 15 after 67 years. In the final few medal events on the 14th day on Saturday, India added four medals to its kitty, two Gold, a silver and a bronze.
Boxer Amit Panghal, stunned the Olympic Champion Hasanboy Dusmatov to win India’s only boxing gold. Closely followed the Indian men’s bridge team winning gold for India. Women’s squash team settled for silver as they lost the final to Hong Kong. The day ended with the men’s hockey team getting the consolation bronze medal beating arch-rivals Pakistan.
Overall, Athletics proved to be the biggest contributor to India’s medal tally in the 2018 Asian Games. Nineteen of India’s Sixty-nine medals were won by athletes, which included seven Gold, ten Silver and two Bronze medals. Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson, Manjit Singh, Arpinder Singh, Swapna Barman and Women’s 4x400m Relay Team that includes Assam Express Hima Das won the Gold medals in Athletics.
Shooting turned out to be the second biggest contributor to India’s medal tally in the 18th Asian Games. Two golds, four silver and three bronze came from this sport. Wonder boy 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary won the Gold in Men’s 10m Air Pistol and Rahi Sarnobat won the gold in Women’s 25m Pistol.
Medals in Tennis, Badminton, Wrestling and Table tennis were on expected lines but surprise winnings came from Rowing, Sailing, Wushu, Kurash, Sepaktakrow and Bridge. Apart from 15 gold, India picked up 24 silver and 30 bronze medals that helped them finish inside top-10 at eighth for the third consecutive time.
